Starting up your own group on Spot – tips and important points

A Spot group is a place to share knowledge about a specific topic, organise activities and make contacts among like-minded people. Community manager Annick will be happy to help you set up, organise and activate your own group.

Approach: 3 steps to a successful group

The time-management guru Alan Lakein once declared that ‘Failing to plan is planning to fail’. Seeing as we only want you to succeed, we've summarised a few things here which you should really pay attention to.

1. Setting up

The most obvious groups will be for the clubs or societies which already exist at and around Schiphol. These would include business clubs, sports groups or other societies. But you can also set up an entirely new group. Before you set up a group, you should be able to answer the following questions:

Who are you starting the group for? Do you have a clear idea of the people you're targeting with the group? Do they want a group? Will they talk to each other online? And do you have enough subjects for discussion to maintain interest in the long term?

Have you organised the group's management? Management requires at least 3 people. That way you can each allow time for holidays, sick days or for when you change jobs.

Will you set aside time to ensure the group stays relevant and active? We would expect you to publish a message or start a discussion at least once a week. And you should organise a get-together at least 4 times a year.

2. Organising

Set your objective. What would make the group successful? It's best to state this in measurable terms. For example: a certain number of group members, or the volume of responses to messages.

Identify your target group. Who are your potential participants, and where will you find them?

Collect input and ideas. What kind of information and activities would appeal to your group members? A useful exercise to start with might be to draft a few actual messages and some subjects for discussion.

Make a content calendar. If you plan well, you can ensure a steady drip-feed of news items, discussions and activities, which increases the chances of your group staying active and group members remaining interested.

3. Activating

Once your group has been set up and organised on Spot, the really fun, important part can start. Signing up members, organising the first activities and events, publishing news items, starting and moderating discussions…

Here at Spot, we already have quite a bit of experience in activating groups. And we'd like to share it with you. So during this phase in particular, community manager Annick will be on hand to give you personal guidance.

Any questions?

Want to register your club or society for a Spot group? Got any questions about starting up a group? Get in touch with Annick.